Planning A Luxury Outdoor Living Addition

Q. Tim, we are planning a luxury outdoor living addition to our home. What features should we consider for our addition?

Before COVID-19, homeowners had wanted to transform bland yards into practical extensions of their homes. But like many other home trends, the pandemic accelerated the desire for seamless, functional and beautiful outdoor living spaces as people followed stay-at-home orders and had more time to invest in creating their own backyard escapes.

At the time this article was written, people were committing larger budgets for a comprehensive outdoor experience that catered to cooking, entertaining and everyday living. Outdoor kitchens were becoming a near necessity in these spaces, as were screened areas, outdoor heating and voluminous design features such as vaulted ceiling areas.

Below are three of the features that were proving to be the most popular.

1. Vaulted Ceilings

As mentioned above, vaulted ceilings remained one of the most requested exterior home details. There are many ways to design volume into an outdoor living space, but the most versatile is the vaulted gable. It instantly adds volume, but vaulted gables can also bring stunning views into the outdoor living space.

2. Outstanding Outdoor Kitchens

In upscale and luxury outdoor living spaces, outdoor kitchens reigned supreme. Nearly every luxury outdoor living space we designed incorporated some form of outdoor kitchen into the new area. The NKBA reported similar popularity with its respondents (60%). The Brown Jordan Outdoor Living Report said 65% of American homeowners ages 35 to 44 cited a full outdoor kitchen as very important if they were designing an outdoor space.

3. Outdoor Heating

The shoulder months of spring and fall are ideal times to enjoy outdoor living areas, but if we add heating sources to the new space, all but the coldest winter days can become inviting times to enjoy outdoor spaces.

Whether you are cooking, celebrating with friends or just relaxing with family at home, an outdoor living space can become one of the most popular areas in your home.